The Queen Street Viaduct

Not as grand as the Bloor Street Viaduct (or Prince Edward Viaduct as it is more properly known) but the Queen Street Viaduct has been around in one form or another for much longer.

There have been a number of bridges over the Don River at Queen Street since the early 1800's. The current bridge dates from 1911. Looking east from the west side (see the photo below) you can see a few things:

1. That it is a Pratt Truss bridge (for the engineers)
2. The streetcar tracks and power lines
3. A saying "This river I step in is not the river I stand in" across the top (that comes from the philosophy of Heraclitus)

The saying and the (now not working) clock are parts of an art installation along with words inscribed in the sidewalks at the four corners of the intersection of Queen St E and Broadview Ave and some pennants still further east on Queen St.

The four corners of Queen and Broadview contain the inscriptions:

TOO SOON FREE FROM TIME

TIME IS MONEY: MONEY IS TIME

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER

TIME=DISTANCE X VELOCITY

 

Also, between Broadview and the bridge there are patterns in the sidewalk that make it look like a winding river.

The earlier bridges (see the 'Queen Street Viaduct' link earlier) were much lower (closer to river level) and the Don Station building was on the west side of the river by the CPR tracks. This building has been saved and is currently at Roundhouse Park downtown. Some earlier photos follow:

1. Looking SSE from where the western end of the bridge is now

2. Looking NE from track level

The picture below was taken by me about 20 years ago while the Don Station had been located in the Todmorden Mills area further north in the Don Valley.

Now it looks like:

Some more info on the Don Station is in an earlier post I made.

Finally, some views from the bridge itself - looking north up the Don Valley Parkway:

Looking south along the river:

And looking north along the river (not the same day as above 😸 )